Author: Kevin Crossman

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Trader Vic’s Outpost Updates

Some things remain great at the Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport location, including the continued availability of To-Go Cocktails including the Original Mai Tai. That was a great way to kick off our travels to San Diego for Tiki Oasis. Staff here remain super friendly, though their ability to guess my cocktail choice might have had something to do with the shirt I was wearing and not clairvoyance.

Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group’s corporate site labels this location as a Trader Vic’s Outpost, same as the Oakland Airport location that continues to be confirmed as coming soon. These Outpost locations are intended for airports and lobbies, an obviously less immersive location that nonetheless offers travelers a great option to experience Trader Vic’s culinary and cocktail legacy; it’s a great marketing opportunity as well.

At San Jose, the restaurant and bar sits opposite a grab and go location that sells salads, canned drinks, and Trader Vic’s mugs and merch. In the past, the Trader Vic’s Canned Mai Tai was available here, but I confirmed that unfortunately the product is no longer being produced. A variety of beers and RTD cocktails are available here instead, notably not including a Mai Tai from On the Rocks or Cutwater for obvious reasons.

The Outpost Grab and Go location now includes some pretty nice looking bowls that are on-par with the restaurant across the way, plus some Salmon and Short Rib plates that look delicious. This is a big improvement in terms of the grab and go items.

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Frozen Mai Tai at Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar

The bad thing about the Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai is that you sometimes have to take one of the team and try a cocktail that isn’t the best. Sometimes they’re the very worst. But sometimes these expected bad Mai Tais aren’t bad at all, in fact they’re great.

Such was the case at the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego. This bar and restaurant is attached outside to the Tommy Bahama clothing store and the mall is right behind the hotel where we’re staying for Tiki Oasis. “Why not, I’m on vacation” was the concept for ordering the Frozen Mai Tai and this cocktail was a total delight. Really good flavors that actually resembled a Mai Tai along with plenty of Trader Vic’s Dark rum meant this was plenty boozy and totally satisfying.

For lunch I did the Poke Bowl and this too was quite good with plenty of ingredients and complex but approachable flavors. The lunch was so good we made a second visit on the trip and found the results to just as great.

I didn’t have “Top 20 Mai Tai of the year” on my bingo card, but the Tommy Bahama Frozen Mai Tai is now in the running.

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Ixtahuele at Tiki Oasis

My biggest regret from not attending past Tiki Oasis events was missing great musical performances from artist I am following. So it was a dream come true to see Sweden’s Ixtahuele perform last night.

Promoting their excellent new exotica album Pathways to Paradise, the band played a tight hour plus set including a couple of appearances by Crazy Al Evans and Medusirena the Fire eating Mermaid.

I went over to the merch table afterwards and both Johan and Mattias recognized me, calling out “Mr Ultimate Mai Tai.” Unbelievable. The band was kind enough to autograph the album and pose for a photo.

Crazy Al on Birdcalls
Medusirena the Fire Eating Mermaid
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Tiki Oasis Presentation Slides

(Nearly) Everything You Know About Rum in a Mai Tai is Wrong

Sponsored by Denizen Rum

While the first Mai Tai was born with long-aged pot-still Jamaican rum, over the decades the Trader used rums from various islands and styles to produce Mai Tais for different purposes. Learn how the rums and recipes for the Mai Tai evolved over the years, and how changing the rum can make your Mai Tai more palatable for your guests. Think you know everything about rum in a Mai Tai? Prepare to have your assumptions challenged.

Download the Slides

Thank you to Tiki Oasis for the opportunity and for everyone who attended.

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Chill Hangover Brunch at Hula Hoops

This seems to be our new tradition to have brunch at South San Francisco’s Hula Hoops after an overnight in the City. The Lilikoi Pancakes were excellent again, and I checked another cocktail off my Hula Hoops cocktail checklist.

The Luzon Chiller is a dry Lemon Drop riff made with rum, elderflower, and lemon. Bartender Maria suggested she could add sugar if we wanted it more sweet but I found that it being a little dry was a plus. Very crisp and even the light rum is so much better than vodka.

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Disco Banana Dip

It isn’t just a fabulous cocktail, one of our favorites. It comes with a Banana Chip and you can use the cocktail as a dip!

Our drinks on Saturday at Zombie Village were just as great as we’ve come to expect, including that blended Disco Banana with cinnamon and potent rums. The place was medium busy around 9:30 and in addition to the Disco Banana Mrs. Mai Tai also had the Coco Pandan that comes with an ube popsicle.

Meanwhile, I tried the Over the Garden Wall from the seasonal cocktail menu. This has Indonesian rum, elderflower, absinthe, coconut, citrus, and spice. I will say this leaned very close to being too spicy hot for me, but overall I liked the complex flavors. It was pretty good, but I should have ordered the Disco Banana.

Disco Banana and Over the Garden Wall
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The World’s Dirtiest Tiki Bar

Like clockwork, every five years it is time to revisit Hawaii West, a dirty tiki bar near the border of North Beach and Chinatown in San Francisco. This venue has a long history but the years have not been kind, so much so that even experienced tikiphiles have never heard of this place. Part dive bar, part tiki bar – this is definitely not the bar for everyone.

We entered at 9:00 pm on a Friday to find the place dimly lit and a mature lady sitting alone at the bar watching TV and having a snack. An awkward pause ensued. The staring contest ended when I asked if she worked here, at which point she dropped her fork and worked her way back behind the bar. I scanned the back bar, trying not to focus on the softcore photo prominently displayed back behind the bar. I also looked for a menu, missing the large sign off at the end of the bar.

The good thing about being on the Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai is that few bars won’t know how to make one, especially one with a few tikis scattered around. The orange and red cocktail soon appeared I handed the lady a twenty. Just $8 came back, meaning that this Mai Tai was only a couple bucks cheaper than the world class Mai Tai at Smuggler’s Cove – but Hawaii West is a place that seems like it was from a different universe. As grenadine laden Mai Tais go, I’ll have to admit it wasn’t half bad.

A trio of young people entered and must be semi regulars, chatting with the bartender. While waiting for our Lyft, we found that the toilet wouldn’t flush and reminding us our friend had a bad bathroom experience on our last visit. Reading the Yelp reviews, it appears food is sometimes available here which strikes me as … unappetizing.

I don’t object to tiki dive bars that appeal to a local clientele, such as with Trad’r Sam across town. Though, I’m not sure who Hawaii West is for.